Over the first four months of 2021, the wage arrears rose by 36.6 percent or almost one billion hryvnia. OPPOSITION PLATFORM – FOR LIFE Party demands that the government pays attention to this uncontrolled rise and undertakes urgent measures to decrease it. This was stated by OPPOSITION PLATFORM – FOR LIFE MP Serhiy Lovochkin.

 “The government completely ignores the problem of the wage arrears increase. Over the first four months of 2021, they rose by 36.6 percent or almost one billion hryvnia and have reached 3.57 billion as of May 1. We demand that the Cabinet of Ministers takes urgent measures for decreasing the debt to people,” Lovochkin stressed.

The MP said that significant growth rate of wage arrears is noted in almost all sectors of economy: over threefold in construction and IT sector, by 1.4 times in agriculture, by 1.3 times in transportation.

“The sharp increase of the debt in healthcare, by 2.6 times since early 2021, is totally unacceptable! By the end of April, the nation owed its doctors over 72 million hryvnia. Healthcare workers who fight on the frontline of the coronavirus epidemic do not get what they earned. This is a testament to complete lack of professionalism in the government and its complete indifference towards people,” the politician said.

Lovochkin added that major part of the wage arrears, almost 78 percent of the entire amount, remains consolidated in manufacturing industry. By the end of April, the indebtedness to workers in this economy sector rose by 37 percent compared to early 2021, or by 747 million hryvnia.

“Unprofessional management of the economy leads to people not being able to get what they earned. We demand that the government immediately secures that people are being paid what they are owed,” Lovochkin summed up.